Height loss is commonly associated with spinal fractures, such as, for example, vertebral compression fractures. Spinal fractures affect a large segment of osteoporotic patients. It is estimated that approximately 700,000 spinal fractures occur annually from osteoporosis, for example. Procedures have been developed to treat spinal fractures. One such procedure is kyphoplasty. Kyphoplasty is a minimally invasive procedure that is used to treat spinal fractures, such as, for example, vertebral compression fractures by inserting one or more balloons, such as, for example, compliant balloons inside a fractured vertebral body. The balloon or balloons are inflated within the fractured vertebral body such that the cancellous bone of the vertebral body is pushed towards cortical walls of the vertebral body to form a cavity within the vertebral body. The cavity is then at least partially filled with a material, such as, for example, bone cement.
To adequately push the cancellous bone toward cortical walls of the vertebral body to form the cavity, the balloon is inflated at a very high pressure. Often, when the pressure within the balloon is too high, the balloon will not function properly. For example, when pressure within the balloon is too high, the balloon may form the cavity at a location other than a desired location and/or may have an incorrect size or shape. Furthermore, the high pressure used to inflate the balloon may cause the balloon to rupture while the balloon is being inflated if the pressure within the balloon exceeds the balloon's pressure limit. However, conventional spinal fracture treatment procedures lack a balloon that includes a pressure-reducing valve to vent pressure within the balloon when pressure within the balloon reaches a predetermined threshold. This disclosure describes improvements over these prior art technologies.